Articles in the archive contain broken links because
outdated files are removed.

November 8th

SpaceOrbI've been itching to try the SpaceOrb 360 since
American raved about them in his .plan a while back:

"playing on our server here using the new "SpaceOrb
360" controller. This thing is fucking cool. We had one of the older models about a
year ago that we decided we liked so much we smashed it into a wall. :) I have never liked
playing DM with anything but a three button mouse... until now. This is as good as a mouse
(not saying it's better). I sound like a commercial."

Now I'll get my chance, since SpaceTec has sent
me one of these things to review. I'll check it out, and when I've gotten the feel for it,
I'll give you my impressions. They've also sent along a couple for me to give away, so I
guess it's time to concoct my first ever contest! I'm pretty sure I know how I'm going to
handle this, but I'm gonna sleep on it, and announce it tomorrow. If you have bought a
SpaceOrb or plan to, you can get a $20 mail in rebate by printing and remitting this web coupon before the end of the year. (You also need
a receipt, so you can't pick up $20 if you win one from me.)

Um, It's That Pesky Internet AgainYep, sometime yesterday evening, that durned Internet I keep reading so
much about reared its ugly head and broke my site. I just continued to cheerily update
(and move this message to the top), so there's stuff to catch up on. For the curious,
Digiweb (yes, quite a few of you got to view their homepage) moved my site to a new
server, and your browsers won't resolve to the new site until your provider's name server
updates. I have found the literal path to the old directory, and will send updates to both
(for the news at least) for a few days. Thanks to Joost
Schuur for correcting my somewhat faulty explanation of the process by which DNS's get
updated. Hell sCary is the official internet sysop, I'm just a
webmaster (err Quakemaster). And now I see from his
page, his bosses at high command had to to actually reboot the Internet (hope none of
you was bounced from a killer Quake game or anything...) but everything seems reasonably
under control.

Sujoy the NomadSujoy's Quake Page
has moved (again!), sucked in by the impressive gravity of Planet Quake (oooh! physics puns!). Issue #2 has
been released, featuring the story that's sweeping the nation: the Ganking of the Pork
Riblet Meals...

November 7th

New New CTFThe new release, Version 2.51 fixes a bug
in 2.50 that occasionally caused a dropped flag to fall through the floor (oops). Couple
more CTF sites that I should mention are Enders and Mantis Quake.

Official Judgement on Judgement Day Part IIEarlier today Mike Wilson sent along the following:

Well, it's true. Judgment Day is cancelled, and so is the
on-site ClanCup event. None of you are more sorry than me. We should have known better
than to count on someone else to pull this off. Oh, well. I suppose id will have to plan
its own event. But for now, it's off.

And more recently, followed it up with a clarification (lest we think he was accusing
the ClanRing of screwing up):

lest anyone misunderstand, i was referring to MS in the below
statement, not the clanring. the clancup never would have stood a chance without will and
the clanring guys, even if MS would have had their shit together. the WHOLE JUDGMENT DAY
EVENT is cancelled... or postponed, as they say. there you have it.

I Know Who sCary is, But What's a Blue?Thanks to renowned storyteller sCaryname
for pointing out that American updated his .plan with a little "endorsement"
for Best Buy (he also mentions a couple of really cool webmasters):

Working working working...

Since Blue gets his rants and Scary
gets his stories I would just like to
say one thing:
-Best Buy customer service SUCKS-
If I go into a store to purchase
something I usually expect people to
come *towards* me and *help* me. Not
to run away and hide... and once I actually
have the thing I wish to purchase, it seems
only logical that I not be forced to wait in
line with the cast from "Deliverance" *30 minutes*
just to buy the stupid thing.
It shouldn't be called "Best Buy" it should
be called "Slow, Shitty Buy". There... I
feel better now.

The Vérité Stuff Comes, and the Vérité
Stuff GoessCary also sends along word that Creative Labs has posted an updated bios (159k) for the PCI 3D
Blaster (which is odd, because as far as I know the 3D Blaster is still largely
unavailable). And thanks to Eric T. Busch for
pointing out that Gamespot pulled those new Reactor
Drivers from their website. Apparently Intergraph
knew nothing about them, and their engineering department is trying to figure out where
they came from! The official driver release is still expected any day now.

Boy, this is now the fourth story on this page today that mention sCary (pretty scary,
huh kids?). Since I'm sending you over to his 'leet site so much, I'll give you something
to do when you're done reading all the good stuff there. Click on the frames button on the
top of his page. Now do it again. Keep on doing it... nutty, huh? The cool thing is that
the bottom frame gets smaller every time, so you should be able to crash your browser
before you run out of screen (warning do not attempt this unless really bored).

Vérité ReviewI see on sCary's that he should be
getting his Vérité-based video card from Rendition today. I look forward to seeing his
impressions, but I'm also surprised at his contention that a fair and comprehensive review
has not yet been done (especially after that ridiculous letter from a Vérité basher he
printed). So, to defend the honor of my pal Erick Cid,
who wrote the review I printed a few weeks back of the Intergraph Reactor (with
comparisons and benchmarks versus a Lightspeed 128 and a Voodoo), I'm reprinting that comprehensive review again (maybe I'll ask Erick
for an updated one). My prediction is that when sCary plays with his new card he will eat
his words (he said "It also affirms my decision to go with a 3dfx card instead of
the Verite.")

Unreal RetractionSean Green of Shadows passed along an email from Cliff at Epic,
apologizing for spreading false rumors about Hexen II's performance:

I'd like to make a public apology for talking smack about
Hexen II. The source that informed me of the games' speed problems was unreliable, and I'm
sorry if I caused any confusion. Next time I'll double check my sources before talking
trash.

PC Gamer Book
Thanks to a couple of informants, I can give a little more detail on the book included in
the UK edition of PC Gamer. It's called Attaining Mastery of Quake, by Kyle
Hofmann. Thanks to old newsgroup pal Adam
Williamson for passing along the title, and Matthew Sefton for the author.

November 6th

New Capture the FlagVersion 2.5 of Dave "Zoid"
Kirsch's crime-fighting Capture the Flag patch, has been released. Here is the new version (this is a
server side patch, you don't need to download it to play), here's what's new, and here is what Zoid has to say:

This is not the release of the custom stuff I'm working on.
It's the last release (hoping there's no bugs) of the source before then. The custom stuff
should be ready sometime next week. This should hold you over until then. :)

Server operators should upgrade to 2.5 as it fixes ways of
cheating and serveral bugs.

Players, bug your server operator to upgrade now!

Thanks for the overwhelming support, thank yous, and general
enthusiasm for this patch. It's going to be even more exciting when I get the custom CTF
release done.

Judgement Day 2 CancelledThanks to Jason "Fiend" Keddie
for passing along the sad word that the Microsoft sponsored tournament, Judgement Day 2,
has gone the way of all things (what a cheery expression that is). I see according to Stomped it is supposed to be rescheduled in the spring
after some "improvements."

Quake Book in UK PC GamerMr. Wolf dropped in out of the blue, as he occasionally does, passing
along word that the UK edition of PC Gamer includes an actual book on Quake (not a little
leaflet or magazine). He didn't get to see the book, but it said it had secrets, maps,
strategies, and some stuff about add-ons. Of course free is usually a fair price for those
kinds of books, but it shows an impressive... scope or something (and an impressive
budget, to be sure).

id Shakeup!id Software just issued the following press release describing the
departure of Jay Wilbur as CEO and the appointment of Todd Hollenshead to that position
(thanks to Mike Wilson for passing it along):

Mesquite, TX, November 6, 1996 -- id Software today announced
the appointment of Todd Hollenshead as the company's new chief executive officer.
Hollenshead, along with Mike Wilson, id's "biz guy" and director of marketing
and distribution, will oversee the management of the company. id Software, creator of
computer game phenomenons DOOM and QUAKE, is one of the most successful and well-known
developers in the interactive entertainment industry.

Jay Wilbur, id's former CEO, recently announced that he will
be transitioning into the role of full time dad. According to Jay, "I truly believe I
have had one of the coolest jobs available to mankind and I want thank all of you for
making my work here a fun-filled adventure. But the time has come for me to retire my
laptop, v-mail, fax, blah, blah, blah, etc., etc., in order to devote more of my time to a
different, fun-filled adventure--father of two."

Wilbur continued, "We handpicked Todd because of his
awesome background, his experience at some of the best financial institutions and his
history working with id. And, id already has someone in place with awesome business savvy
and creative vision and his name is Mike Wilson."

"I have been working with id for years at Arthur
Anderson and understand their industry and corporate style," said Todd Hollenshead.
"id is a dynamic and industry-leading company and I look forward to fostering the
company's growth."

Hollenshead comes to id from Deloitte & Touche where he
was an international tax manager. Prior to Deloitte & Touche, he spent 5 years as a
tax manager in the Manufacturing Industry Group of Arthur Anderson where he worked with id
Software and other high-tech manufacturing and software companies. Hollenshead received a
BS in accounting and an MS in Tax from The University of North Texas in 1991 where he
graduated Magna Cum Laude

id Software, founded in 1991, is a software development
company located in Mesquite, Texas. id's team of talented developers continue to make
gaming history by creating and publishing one sensational action game after another.
Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, DOOM II, Heretic, HEXEN and QUAKE have created a frenzied demand
worldwide and have managed to consistently break shareware and retail sales records at
home and abroad.

Quake v. Duke Part II
A few corrections on today's first story (thanks to Rob
Sanheim for pointing out I had the voting procedure wrong):

I really can't believe they did this, but they did, CNET is having a Quake versus Duke
"vote," so I guess (as they used to say in Chicago elections), "Vote early
and vote often." Mail your vote (one vote per day per email address) to this addresswith the subject lineQuake Wins (clicking that link will fill in the subject for you, thanks
to Oskar Sandberg for teaching me a new
"mailto:" trick)to vote for Quake (if you want to vote for
Duke, you're not allowed to read my page anymore, please hit the back button on your
browser now, and go figure out how to vote on your own). The results (next Monday) will "also
be featuring the best comments and canniest observations from the election mail"
so try and be pithy. I plan on pithing all over GamerX,
myself for stirring this up again (as reader Yoz Grahame
points out "I think Quake vs. Quicken is probably a better debate than Quake
vs. Duke")... Is November a sweeps month on the web too?

Carmack's .planThanks to old pal Jason
"Fiend" Keddie for pointing out that John Carmack updated his .plan with
info about the upcoming WinQuake, GLQuake, and QuakeWorld ports.

Over the weekend, I ported Quake to open-gl / win32. It is a
complete port with all features supported. Its not really practical right now on most
consumer level equipment, but it runs ok on my intergraph glz-13t. It will work on the
3dlabs cards with their next driver release, but it really isn't very optimized yet, so
don't expect anything really fast.

If you have high end hardware (intergraph realizm or dec
powerstorm), it is pretty cool.

It is interesting to look at quake with hires 24 bit
trilinear texture mapping. Sometimes you just don't even notice anything is different, but
sometimes you can just stare at a scene for quite a while apreciating it.

Throwing bits and pixels at a static design certainly doesn't
hurt, but it really doesn't bring it to a new level. I think I know where the next level
is, but I'm just at the very beginning of the work on the next game architecture.

We have three mostly-done things to release: winquake,
glquake, and quakeworld. No, I don't know when any of them are actually going to be
released. Sorry.

QuakeWorld will actually download a new level for you now if
you want to wait for it. Little models and sounds are a lot more practical to customize a
server with, though.

Today I got cornered by the three level designers and an
artist and they jumped all over me for working on new research instead of polishing the
quake 2 tools. I guess the rest of my week is spoken for...

New Ranger MovieThe new production is entitled Torn Apart. Also available on the Ranger's Homepage. Thanks to Ranger
leader ColdSun for sending it along. It's another
short film to tide everyone over till their epic done.. They basically wanted to show off
the technology to be used in the sequel to Ranger
Gone Bad (it was filmed with the exclusive RangerCam Patch that Wedge wrote).
ColdSun describes the short flick as "sorta a horror movie..."

CTF UpdateThere's a preview of the new CTF patch on Threewave with screenshots showing the flag and the
new anti-crossdresser skins. Zoid says he hopes to
release it "just after the coming weekend." Thanks to Dave "Bounty Hunter" Metz for the tip.

Mecca Moves
Funny's cool site, the Mecca, has moved to its
own domain (Meccaworld. Hmmm, Blueworld? Naaah...), which, of course relocates Quake at the Mecca. They now have
more storage, so there'll be more room for maps.

November 5th

Reaper SkinsMichael Kelly has created a set of
skins to enhance the illusion of playing actual players when you're playing against Reaper
bots (or eliminators, or other bots for that matter). The file contains 16 player skins
with the shirt/pants color changed on each one, so that playing Reaper looks like a normal
game with different colored players running about. Download reaprskn.zip (377k) or read the text file.

Carmack For President?Nah, it would be a demotion. Anyway, thanks to sCary (who runs this 'leet-ass framed website) for
pointing out John Cash's addendum to his .plan today:

*voted
"None of the above" wasn't on the ballot
Wonder if anyone else wrote in Carmack?

Willits Lives!
Thanks to Kit Chung (I love that name; it's like a
comic book sound effect: ka-chung!) for pointing out that Tim Willits updated his plan.
One interesting tidbit is the fact that id's hired a new artist, Paul Steed:

Here are the things that kept me so busy I just didn't have
time to update my .plan for so long.

Things I've been doing.....

-Manually inputting all 100 CD names into my CD player.
-Setting up my new Intergraph mac-daddy machine.
-Rearranging the desktop on my new machine.
-Deciding what theme to put on the newly arranged desktop.
-Playing internet Deathmatch (You all are getting so good that I think I'm going to stop
playing until Quake 2 comes out so I know where everything is and you don't!)
-Listening to American and John Cash fight about who's better at DeathMatch.
-Listening to everyone else laugh at them.
-Rollarblading with Lona and John.
-Playing Super Mario 64---like everyone else-----
-Playing my new Mortal Kombat II video arcade machine.
-Wondering how much more great our games are going to be with one more artist at id.
-Probing into Paul Steed's life---He's the new artist, send him mail and say hello. psteed@idsoftware.com
-Moving from my little apartment into a house.
-Changing the theme on my newly arranged desktop.

OK, my next posting will be a list of the WORST Quake levels
on the internet.
If you know of any really bad levels send me the names.

Reaper ConfigRobert M Lowrey sent along his reaper config file, which includes a lot of useful stuff for 'bot
blasting. It's heavily commented, so you can easily modify it to suit your
needs/key-setup. Thanks Robert.

Mergers and AcquisitionsI see on QuakeX that
QuakeX will be joining forces with the QuakeLab
to become a mega-information source for your editing needs. That should work out well, I
look forward to seeing the results of this team-up.

11/4:
*fixed the lighning gun ammo bug
in player.qc, functions player_light1 and player_light2
change the line "if (!self.button0)" to
"if ((!self.button0) || (self.currentammo == 0))"
remember to do it both places!
*fixed a bug with CDs with more than 32 tracks
Examples: Marilyn Manson Antichrist Superstar
Nine Inch Nails Broken
American is back from Mexico
time to finally play our match
now he wants to race too; wonder why ;-)
My productivity won't suffer from having the MKII machine
I'd forgotten how bad I am at that game

sCary's New and Improved ContestNew? For sure... different rules. different 'bot. Improved? Hell yeah,
he's even got prizes now. It's sCary's new demo
contest, exclusively at the Quakeholio. Also,
sCary has finally given in and made a framed
version of the Quakeholio, mooahah! (And Redwood's
is next!)

Quaaaaake! Back OnlineAfter some troubles with that darned Internet we've all heard so much
about, Quaaaaake! is back online with a newer,
faster server.

American's BackAmerican is back from Mexico, and he's updated his plan:

Ok, back from Mexico finally :)
We ended up staying there a little longer
than we had planned to. The weather was
awesome, the water was crystal clear, the
food was great, etc... etc... Anyway, back
to work now.

I hope he meant the water was crytal clear to swim in...

Reactor Price CutThanks to Eric T. Busch for pointing
out that Intergraph has lowered the price on
their Reactor card to $149. For anyone who purchased the card at the original $199 price,
you can call Intergraph Express (1-800-692-8069) and ask for a $50 refund.

CTF UpdateThe new version of CTF is almost upon us. I received a report from Dan Hicks (OverKill) that he'd just gotten off the ThreeWave server where he played on the new version
(he thought it was 2.5). Also if you didn't seen the screenshot of the blue base on QuakeX done by the amazingly talented Whaleboy (who's doing some new CTF textures and
models), you should it's very cool. Whaleboy was nice enough to send along a
screenshot of the red flag (he says it waves, and everything!):

The
CD May Be Fatal if Swallowed, Too!
There's an article in the New York Times
Online describing a Hong Kong ISP's efforts to protect itself from Quake-induced
repetitive stress disorders by making users sign a waiver of liability as part of its
Terms of Service which excludes:

"risks to the user's health, such as diseases resulting
from prolonged use of computers and possible epileptic seizures or loss of consciousness
when exposed to computer images or playing certain games".

As Luther Huffman who found the article points
out, the next step might be a Surgeon General's warning on Quake...

Map Descriptions for CD-ROM.COMJoost Schuur, the archive admin for the ftp.cdrom.com idgames2 section at Walnut Creek
is looking for people to write reviews on the Quake levels available there to help people
identify good levels to download. Reviews should describe the theme of the levels, explain
what makes it good and recommend how good it is at deathmatch (or single play). Amateurish
levels that aren't worth the download can also be pointed out. Contact Joost if you're
interested.

November 3rd

SQP (Re)OpensThe revamped Sujoy's Quake Pages
are online. Very professional looking graphics and Sujoy Roy's wit make this site a
winner. Remember to send Sujoy your Quake humor
submissions. Oh, and in response to the numerous requests, he's even posted a tutorial on
how to make cool animated graphics like the fire logo in the upper left.

CyberDemon at the QuakeLabSteve Fukuda is back from
vacation, and is once again updating his exceptional resource, the QuakeLab. One eyecatcher that has been
posted is a new/old monster, the Cyberdemon!

Go to the QuakeLab's
Gameflow section for more info. Steve is also looking for people well versed in
Monster making (modeling, QC, etc.) to specialize in making monsters for the Gameflow
section. He also invites people knowledgeable in making and implementing custom textures
to join the QuakeLab team. This is all part of an expansion/diversification project in
response to requests for other information that may not be covered in great detail
elsewhere. Finally, map authors should all check out the Authoring Signatures section -
you may want to take a second look at it if you haven't within the last 2 to 3 weeks
because this idea is past the idea stage, and is actually in progress.

UK Clan Leader CouncilUther Pendragon dropped a note
saying a number of the UK Clan Leaders are getting together to start a UK Clan Council to
be used for sharing info about Games, Servers and new stuff. If you want info, or to
register your Clan, email Uther.

CorrectionMy sincere apologies to Quantum Axcess for accidentally putting their name
instead of Actura's in the story about Actura's legal entanglements with id. Quantum
Axcess has never been in legal trouble with id. It's always when I'm gonna go off to screw
around with a new hard drive (coincidentally, a Quantum Fireball) or something for the day
that I get sloppy and post something that requires a retraction or clarification. Once
again, to the QA guys who have gone out of their way to keep up with id's changes in
policy, I'm sorry.

In a related note, I got a message from Satanic
Avatar who points out that this info originated on the Force (formerly Quake Fiction), and wanted
the record set straight. You can also read the entire interview there.

Hexen II Slow? No!I received many responses to the rumor from Epic about Hexen II's speed,
all refuting the notion that the Quake engine wasn't up to the screenshots, including an
eyewitness account from Geoff at GameSlice:

I read your news on Hexen 2 about how all the detail will be
removed before the game releases. Untrue. I've spoken to Raven about this, and the game is
constantly being benchmarked against Quake and it is right on target to run just as fast
as Quake does with all the level detail you saw in our preview.

Those shots are real, from the game, and when I saw it
running it was extremely fast on a P90.

This if for everybody but mostly for Clans on NOV. 8(FRI)
night at 8:00pm EST. on IRC *undernet* #quake there will be a big meeting with clan
members. I would like at least one member from each clan to show-up and repersent their
clan. All members should have their clan letters in their name if they have any. We will
talk about the Clan Ring battle and QuakeWorld and give clans an chance to find a clan to
battle there and so on. FRI night is clan night on undernet #quake, but this will be
bigger so be apart of it and come.

Cash's .planWhile I was contemplating IRQ's, John Cash knocked out another .plan
update. Thanks to Steve "Dipper" Towle
of Putz for the alert:

Need to fix: a CD with 99 tracks reports as 0 and won't play.
No Marilyn Manson during Quake until I fix this one :-(

November 2nd

Reaper Bot 0.75The new Reaper bot is out, download it right here. Thanks to author Steven Polge for sending it, and for passing along
some comments:

"Here's reaper v0.75. Much smoother strafing, and much
better skill control. Skill 0 plays much easier now. With the new aiming, its possible to
win shotgun battles with the bot (if you circle and strafe a lot) at most skills. I hope
you enjoy..."

Sounds like a big step towards having play more like a human. Cool. I'm gonna wait till
after my hardware project to check it out though: I'm replacing my IDE drive with SCSI (so
if you never hear from me again, I'll just be another sad victim of an upgrade gone
bad...).

Armageddon #2If you happen to be strolling through Brisbane Australia, (?) on December
1st, check out Armageddon #2 which will be attracting around 200 gamers. They will hold
several netgame tournaments as well as general multiplayer 3D gaming. with a SpaceOrb to
give away to the Quake champion, so it might just be worth the trip down under (actually,
I'm amazed, now that I can see the access logs for this site, how many Aussie Quake player
there are: it must be a Quake hotbed!). Check out the Armageddon homepage.

Quake Legal Stuff on GamesmaniaThat site that sCary owns (or something) Gamesmania, has article on id's legal tangles
with Actura and how that situation has caused id to pull it's support on other, previously
approved, CD releases. The article quotes a San Jose Mercury article that Bernie Kornberg sent me info on, which I want
to thank him for (I didn't post it because the Mercury is a subscription service).

Also, Gamesmania has selected the winners of their Quake C contest, and promises to
post them soon.

Hexen II RumorSean
Green of Shadows (an Unreal news site) passed
along a rumor about Hexen II he heard from Cliff at Epic:

"Hexen2's shots, while gorgeous, were not made with
speed in mind. (an inside source who knows them let me in on this) The Quake engine can't
handle the level of detail they made and still run well, so most of the detail you see in
those shots will be mysteriously axed before the game comes out."